Direkte Demokratie, Konkordanz und Wirtschaftsleistung: Ein Vergleich der Schweizer Kantone

Starting from the insights of comparative literature on public policy, this article presents a systematic, empirical examination of the impact of political and institutional determinants of economic performance among twenty-six Swiss cantons over the period between 1983 and 1997. While economic contributions often refer to the impact of direct democracy on public policymaking and economic growth they tend to neglect the effect of other political and institutional preconditions. In addition, hitherto there is little systematic empirical work in comparative politics focusing on the impact of direct democracy beyond other non-economic determinants of public policy. Taking the research advantage of Swiss federalism state, our findings provide strong evidence that a better economic performance is systematically related to the frequent use of fiscal referenda in a given Canton. Furthermore, grand coalitions - defined as the sum of popular votes for parties that make up a coalition government with the goal to produce unified public policy - promote a better economic performance.